New Mexico

Unmanned aircraft — small and large — swooped in during the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey to get a glimpse of the devastation. That's why insurance companies have been using drone technology more than ever before to quickly -- and safely -- assess damage from the storm. It's only been fairly recently that commercial drone technology has advanced enough to take on this task on a large economic scale. And the insurance industry is just beginning to fully embrace it...

The outbreak started in January 2014. That’s when a resident of the Casa Maria nursing home here was diagnosed with Clostridium difficile, a highly contagious and potentially deadly “superbug” that plagues hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities. By the end of February, six more Casa Maria residents were suffering from the infection, characterized by fever, abdominal cramps and violent diarrhea...

...When the U.S. government funds research through the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation, the researchers usually publish the results of their work in professional journals. But subscriptions to professional journals are costly...Celebrating Open Access Week was an opportunity to talk publicly about what it takes to see that the public actually has access.

The installation and use of 'open source' electronic health record (EHR) systems have continued to spread across New Mexico and many other states across the U.S. See the map of healthcare facilities running some variant of the open source VistA electronic health record (EHR) system in New Mexico and the Four Corners. Read More »

For the first time since the 1960s and the desegregation of public schools the majority of children in public schools in the South and the West are poor. That’s according to a new study released by the Southern Education Foundation (SEF), which also indicated that such trends are likely to spread across the whole country if trends continue.

Senate Republicans campaigned against Obamacare for seven years. Yet there was never an alternative that had support from a majority of their own party. The problem is simple: Many (not all) Republicans see health care programs that help people—the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, etc.—as welfare. Others look at the evidence and see these programs that are effective: insuring people, creating jobs, supporting a rural economy, and actually resulting in better health outcomes. Evidence-based success stories...